The BJP Friday urged the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take strong measures to stop the alleged water theft by the tanker mafia and urged municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal to draw a concrete policy on well water to ensure natural resources are readily available to the citizens and not looted by illegal water tanker operators.
BJP MLA and former minister Ashish Shelar Friday said, “While BMC repeatedly imposes water cuts in Mumbai and its suburbs, causing inconvenience to the people, who are taxpayers, the powerful water tanker lobby is getting a free hand to ruthlessly mine underground water without any check or regulation. They are minting money from the people and the commercial establishments by selling well water at a huge price.”
According to Shelar, there are more than 10,000 wells in Mumbai and its suburbs and more than 2,000 tankers lift water from them. “The tanker lobby is making huge money, to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore,” Shelar claimed.
“In the absence of a policy and its implementation, there is no monitoring mechanism on how well water is used or misused. It is evident that the civic body has deliberately turned a blind eye for the tanker mafia to thrive,” the BJP MLA alleged.
He also expressed concerns on the government and the corporation’s “apathy” towards well waters. “In Mumbai, there are several colonies or areas where access to water is difficult. Moreover, even before the onset of summers, the BMC has started imposing water cuts in some wards, which is unfortunate,” he said.
He added, “Instead of taking stern action against tanker the lobby, the ruling Shiv Sena, which controls BMC, is determined to pursue an ambitious Rs 18,000-crore water desalination project to turn the salty sea water into potable water.”